Minority institutions will be exempt from RTE act, says Congress leader

Minority education institutions might soon be exempt from the Right to Education act, according to senior Congress leader Digvijay Singh.

Speaking to reporters on Monday, Singh said the issue was being discussed at the highest level and a formal decision to exempt minority institutions from the purview of the RTE act would be taken shortly.

The general secretary of the All India Congress Committee made the statement while commenting on the objections raised by the All India Muslim Personal Law Board against enforcement of RTE on institutions run by minority organisations.

"The government has in principle agreed to keep minority institutions out of the purview of RTE," he said.

The Right to Education act mandates that all children between the ages of 6 and 14 have the right to free and compulsory elementary education at a neighbourhood school.

The Act makes it compulsory for schools to reserve 25% seats for Economically Weaker Section (EWS) students.

Christians and Muslims are worried that the Act will undermine the protection accorded to minority education under Article 30 of the Constitution.

Article 30 guarantees to all linguistic and religious minorities the 'right to establish' and the 'right to administer' educational institutions of their own choice.

Minority groups are hence expressing their apprehensions on the Act and are demanding amendments in it so as to exclude minority institutions from its purview.

They have also expressed that most institutions run by them were already offering education to several students at concessional rates. To that, an additional 25% will only add to the financial burden.

Earlier this month, All-India Muslim Personal Law Board secretary Maulana Mohammad Wali Rahman criticised the RTE act saying minority institutions will lose their identity on account of it.

Minority institutions will lose their status of their own choice of education, fail to safeguard their linguistic identity and to prepare their children in their own language and culture, he said.